POPSICLE
I found THIS about Vermont law. Going to see if Georgia has a similar statute now.
Vermont, like many other states, has a general saving statute designed
to permit the prosecution of individuals who violate a law that is repealed
prior to the prosecution and sentencing of their cases. Under Vermont's
saving statute, the amendment or repeal of an act shall not, except as pro-
vided in subsection (c), "[a]ffect any violation of the act . . . amended
or repealed, . . . prior to the effective date of the amendment or repeal."
1 V.S.A. { 214(b)(3). Where, however, an amendment reduces the punishment
for an offense, Vermont law provides the following ameliorative amendment
clause, which is an exception to the saving clause:
If the penalty or punishment for any offense is
reduced by the amendment of an act or statutory pro-
vision, the same shall be imposed in accordance with
the act or provision as amended unless imposed prior to
the date of the amendment.
1 V.S.A. { 214(c).
http://libraries.vermont.gov/sites/libraries/files/supct/160/op92-027.txt
eta: I learned a new phrase lol "retroactive amelioration." Apparently, this has come up in GA recently. Still hunting down the outcome.
snipped from the link:
Genarlow Wilson, convicted at seventeen of aggravated child molestation, a felony, for consensual oral sex with a fifteen-year old classmate, was sentenced to a mandatory minimum of ten years. While his appeal was pending, the Georgia Legislature reclassified the conduct as a misdemeanor and reduced the sentence to a maximum of one year but decided not to apply the changes retroactively to him. I use the Genarlow Wilson case as a backdrop to examine the denial of the retroactive application of ameliorative sentencing changes that is manifested through the use of a legislative device known as the express saving clause or a general saving statute. Currently, in the majority, ameliorative sentencing changes are applied retroactively provided there is a clear expression of legislative intent.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1443272
